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The challenge of antimicrobial resistance, which is notoriously associated with the emergence of 'superbugs', (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA), refers to the failure of conventional antibiotics to treat bacterial infections.

Resistance to antibiotics is a natural selection process which occurs at the genetic level and can be sped up with their frequent use. More alarming is the emergence of 'superbugs' against last-resort polypeptide antibiotics that target bacterial membranes.

This research aims to introduce biophysical standards of membrane resistance to support future reference materials and screening membrane platforms for new antibiotics. NPL scientists are developing quantitative biophysical measurements and molecular engineering together with comparative biophysical microbiology and microscopy analysis to relate microbial membrane composition and structure to microbial resistance, using commercial and emerging membrane-active and conventional antibiotics.